The World from Islam
Author: George Negus


By: Abu Fateh

This is the first book I bought when I first came to Australia. I never know the name of the author, but should have realized it from one of the program from the SBS channel. It is hard to get a book by Australian journalist writing about Islam, and I am lucky to find one. First came to Australia, I always wanted to know the way Australian deal with the post September 11 wave, which radically have change the shape of socio-politics around the western country; home of minority Muslims. Browsing through the synopsis, I believe the reason of the author to present this book to the community of non-Muslim is enough to tell me how unclear they are.


The publisher done nothing wrong when categorized this book under travel/current affairs. The structure of the writing is more like a diary of what he discover from his journey through muslims world in his 25 years of career as a journalist. Travelling from state to state, crossing the Indian ocean and the Arabian Peninsula, sometimes make you feel like your reading a travel journal. His dialogue includes the Bedouin in the middle of a dessert to a moderate Muslims in the modern city of Dubai. Every question he ask, seems simple, but actually represent a deep quest in the inferior heart of a non-Muslim. He manage to integrate the point he wants to make with the journey he had, which make it much more interesting The book serve its purpose in explaining the need of recent world to understand in-depth the thoughts on the complex issues of faith, war and Islam.

His journey started in Jordan, where he spend most of the days residing with the Bedouin in the desert, understanding their live and culture and especially a value of a muslim they have while having a huge distance from the real world. However, the real quest in Jordan is more towards a bigger issue; Palestine. Getting deeper in the Palestine issues as he journeyed down the strip of Gaza. He tackled issues involving the peace treaty, the ending era of Yasser Arafat and the endless conflict of suicide bombers. Strongly mentions there is no way terrorists will not be in heaven, but he manage to comprehend fairly his understanding on the life of the Palestinians who everyday deals with the malicious act of the Israeli troops.

Heading towards the gulf region, the topics of discussion is much relaxing. Dealing with what he call as ‘moderate muslims’, the core issues is trying to understand the modern lifestyle of Muslims in the developing country like UAE(Dubai) and Oman. Some of us might as well shock with the lifestyle they being living. Despite, most of the conversation with the a Syaikh and academic people centered around the fundamental issues of Islamic faith. I start to realize how efficient a form of dialogue telling a story of fact.

The reading is really worth when you found a lot of fact about Islam as a religion and as a political influence on the world order today when people really looking for it. For whom who really want to have a glance and get a brief understanding on subject of current affairs relating muslims and the west, terrorism and war. This book give you a very unwind approach. And again, the way the story was told and the integration between the travelling and the issues covered always intact.

I highly recommend this book for students. This is the right book you can start with, to be more observing, more concern and conscious about what happen in the world especially the world of people with the same faith; Islam

“Over the last 25years, I’ve worked and travelled in more than a dozen Islamic countries. On the basis of this regular and varied contact, I would argue that more than 99.99 percent of muslims are not, repeat not, terrorist.” George Negus

p/s: Australian student can tune on SBS channel, for Geoge Negus program call ‘Dateline’ every weeks which covered current affairs issues, which sometimes involving muslims country around the world

Dateline: SBS TV WEDNESDAYS 8:30PM – REPEATED THURSDAY 2:30PM & MONDAY 3:30PM

  • Paperback: 294 pages
  • Publisher: HarperCollins Australia (September 15, 2004)
  • Price: AUD24.95
  • Can be found in Dymocks,Borders, Angus and Robertsons, etc.